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Sometimes friends are the best business partners, pushing each other respectfully and motivating each other to grow. This is the case of Sam Murray and Kijuan Amey.
Sam Murray and Kijuan Amey have been friends since they were five. After school, Sam went to study film production and direction, and Kijuan joined the United States Air Force as an in-flight refueling specialist while pursuing his degree in Computer Information Systems. Soon after, Sam launched his first attempt at starting his own label and production company with Blvck Universe, and dropped his own music under the name Chad Ali.
The two of them run a mobile advertising and marketing services business. They are also starting their own music label and non-profit to serve minority males in their community. Their goal is to be a resource and outlet for kids to have a getaway from home and school.
“As work partners our unique abilities are creativity, being able to build brands, rational thinking under pressure, public speaking, and community service. We both have musical talents and gifts to share to the world! I write, sing, rap and manage our business. Kijuan aka “The Blind Drummer 919” shows his ability to inspire and move a crowd with his speaking and playing of the drums.” Sam says.
The biggest challenges for them as business owners relate to funding and lack thereof. Their business idea is to help all types of businesses, for which they have to have enough knowledge and resources to serve a large demand. But they are deeply motivated to create something to service other entrepreneurs like themselves.
“We aspire to create affordable and effective advertising for our clients, while increasing their brand prestige and generating more sales targeting their market demographic.” Sam states.
Through their business, Sam and Kijuan tackle what they identified as a main issue for small to medium size business owners: the struggle to find affordable advertising in platforms such as billboards, radio and television. Sam and Kijuan could relate to this struggle being aspiring artists and entertainers themselves.
In starting their own business, they recognize that mindset is very important because it is crucial to have a positive and stable mindset. Especially given that things will not always go as planned, so business owners have to adapt and be prepared at all times.
The biggest obstacles they have overcome relate to their health. Sam, on the one hand, has had diabetes type 1 since he was four. He broke his leg his senior year of high school while playing football and had to go through 13 surgeries to save his leg. Kijuan, on the other hand, was in a motorcycle accident after which he lost his sight. This is also why they are examples of grateful people who are thankful for what they have and try each and every day to be a better version of themselves.
“My advice to those trying to start their business is to never give up no matter what, to make your passion your paycheck, to understand that as long as you are still breathing there is opportunity, to not be afraid to ask for help, to do your research and solve problems, to always be kind and value great customer service, and finally, to treat your team and people helping you like gold, by always encouraging and rewarding them.” Sam advises.
For Sam and Kijuan, fear is “false evidence appearing to be real”, it is just an illusion to distract people from maintaining their purpose and chasing their dreams. On the contrary, success to him means not listening to the doubters and proving them wrong by using his abilities to overcome his trials and tribulations.
“Our next projects include getting Ride Sync Pros and 10^ networks officially launched and operating by next year. We also want to travel and get the system into all major cities while also touring, speaking and doing more entertaining events.” Sam says.
Sam and Kijuan differentiate themselves from the competition in that they only look to compete with themselves. In addition, they are original–there is nothing like what they are creating out there right now.
“We look to create an effective system that will generate income while running itself. We have many levels to this idea that will make us superior to any competition.” Sam adds.
As they work on this project, they look ahead and dream about having the freedom to enjoy time with their family and enjoy their hobbies more. They also want to become philanthropists and leaders of their community, by wanting to fund a studio and other real estate projects in their city. You can follow them here (Sam Murray) and here (Kijuan Amey).
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